Alpena’s Reid Meinhardt ready for challenge of state tennis finals
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ALPENA -- Reid Meinhardt is used to being in the spotlight and competing at a high level in whatever he's doing.
But as he prepares for the biggest test of his tennis season, the Alpena High School sophomore is determined to stay focused and in the moment.
He'll compete in the 1 singles flight at the Division 3 state tennis finals, which begin today. Mason is the host for the finals, but matches will be played at Haslett, East Lansing, and Mason high schools.
"I'll just try to win one point at a time and a point leads to games, games to set, and so on," Meinhardt said. "It's super cool (to be competing) and I'm worked pretty hard. Our team's worked pretty hard too."
Alpena missed qualifying as a team for the finals by the slimmest of margins, but Meinhardt will be the first Alpena boys tennis player to compete in the finals since Cam DeCaire did in 2016.
If there's any downside to competing in the finals, it's that Meinhardt won't have his teammates with him, including a regional champion doubles team and another doubles team that finished runner-up.
It'll be really cool because you get to play some really good players and it's a good challenge," Meinhardt said. "We've worked really hard in the offseason, and last year too. There's a lot of people who worked on their tennis game and this year is a lot better than the last few years."
Meinhardt has a first-round bye in the finals and will play his first match against the winner of a match between Detroit Country Day's Saahitth Reddy and Zeeland's Brady Schanski.
Meinhardt finished second at regionals, defeating Bay City John Glenn's Jack Dwan (7-5, 6-4) and Ludington's Charles Kolb (6-2, 6-1) before falling in the finals to Petoskey's Evan Rindfusz (2-6, 4-6).
It's been a solid season for Meinhardt, who said he got serious about tennis a few years ago, and since then he's been a mainstay in Alpena's lineup.
"It's kind of a good payoff, you know?" Alpena coach Charlie Giordano said. "He jumps in and warms up with anybody and works out with anybody, which is great. He's busted his butt all year, all summer, all off-season. Every day, he's either doing two or three sports and I know he wants to do well. I'm just gonna enjoy watching him play at that level."
Meinhardt, who also plays hockey for Alpena, is also a national champion water skier, so he's used to high-pressure situations. That experience should help him this weekend, Giordano believes, as he tests himself against the state's very best.
"Reid's been competing at a high level and a lot of sports throughout his career, so he gets the idea that even though it's a big facility, the tennis court is still the same size," Giordano said. "But I still think when you see 30 teams there with all these kids, it's a little overwhelming at first. But I think mentally, he's strong enough to be able to handle that."
Meinhardt's improvement over the season could pay off too, especially his mental approach to the game."He's developed a pretty short memory this season, which is good; because at the beginning of the year, he was in a match where he kind of got a little flummoxed and he's mentally stronger than he was at the beginning," Giordano said.